Looking Back: Highway resurfacing welcomed

A look back at past Pilot articles by Julie Engler 

50 Years Ago 

Aug. 14, 1975 

A plan for adding to the Whitefish High School building was considered by the District 44 School Board at its regular meeting. The board reviewed a proposal by Harry Schmautz, Kalispell architect, to add vocational training facilities as well as four new regular classrooms. It would involve construction of an entire new wing, plus additions to the present west and south ends of the high school. Last fall, a request for just under $1 million in bonds to build a vocational technical center onto the high school failed at the polls by a narrow margin. 

40 Years Ago 

Aug. 14, 1985 

Highway resurfacing projects on both edges of Whitefish were nearly completed, according to Larry Brazda, area construction supervisor for the Montana Highway Department in Kalispell. On the north, five miles of acres of Highway 93 were resurfaced starting at Lupfer Avenue. Additional shoulder widening was done where necessary. Brazda this said both lanes of traffic had been paved, and they still have to apply the “open graded friction course,” a topping put on with a paver that allows draining. He said that some guardrail would be installed along Murphy Lake and the hill just north of Murphy Lake. On the south side, there would be an additional turning lane. Brazda said that section of highway would be widened to 40 feet, from the Highway 40 junction to where the curb and gutter section begins near the Baker Avenue intersection. 

30 Years Ago 

Aug. 10, 1995 

The Whitefish City Council was expected to set an election date and approve a ballot reading for the resort tax after the Resort Tax Task Force finalized its recommendations on the ballot. The City Council would decide whether to place a 2% across-the-board sales tax on hotels, lodging, restaurants, bars and retail goods considered “luxury items” on the ballot. The council would also decide whether to spend 65% of the revenue on restructuring the city streets and give 25% of the revenue back to property owners in the form of lower property taxes as recommended by the task force. 

20 Years Ago 

Aug. 11, 2005 

North Valley Hospital received word from Washington, DC about its critical access designation, a fundamental factor in determining its eligibility for federal loans. The hospital would keep its critical access designation through the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which means it's likely to get a $26 million loan from the federal department, Housing and Urban Development. Hospital CEO Craig Aasved said HUD was waiting on the critical access ruling before making a decision about the loan which was still in the application process. 

10 Years Ago 

Aug. 12, 2015 

Whitefish’s 2016 budget projected an increase of about $50 in taxes for the average homeowner in the city. That was down from the earlier projection that put the estimated increase at almost double that amount for a house valued at $275,000. Final numbers for the city's tax valuation, combined with budget cuts, helped reduce the tax increase. Councilor Andy Fury pointed out that only $18 of the tax increase is coming specifically from the city. The remainder, he noted, is from the state's reappraisal.